Mayor's Neighborhood Preservation Commission

Mayor's Neighborhood Preservation Committee 4/7/10 Minutes (Final) CITY OF NORWALK MAYOR’S NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION REGULAR MEETING APRIL 7, 2010 ATTENDANCE: Hal Alvord, Department of Public Works Director; Helen Bryant, West Main Street N.A.; Vladimir Marino, Zoning Department ; Katherine Griffing, Golden Hill Association; Bill Rogers, Flax Hill Neighbors; Glenn Iannaccone, Fire Department; Marilyn Maitland, Health Department; Christine Names, NASH; Mark Pierce, Wilton Avenue N.A.; Lt. Paul Resnick, Norwalk Police Department; Port Draper, Harbor Shores; Munro Johnson, Redevelopment Agency; Mayor Richard A. Moccia (10:06 a.m.), Maribeth Becker, Wall Street (10:07 a.m.) STAFF: David Shockley, Redevelopment Agency; Connie Blair, Customer Service CALL TO ORDER Mr. Shockley called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. APPROVAL OF THE MARCH 3, 2010 MINUTES ** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED THE MINUTES OF MARCH 3, 2010. ** MS. GRIFFING SECONDED. ** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF MARCH 3, 2010 AS SUBMITTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. CUSTOMER SERVICE UPDATE Ms. Blair brought information from Governor Rell regarding low interest loans to repair homes from the storms for those present. ANNOUNCEMENTS Mr. Alvord said that the Norwalk Tree Festival will be on May 22nd at Cranbury Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Some of the topics that will be focused on this year will be dealing with storm damage. Mr. Alvord said that there will be opportunities for the residents to ask certified arborists about protecting their trees. There will be tents marked “Ask the Arborists”. It’s important to teach people how to protect trees on private property. City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Regular Meeting April 7, 2010 Page 1 Ms. Names asked if the Yard Waste site was open. Ms. Blair said that it was from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00. Mr. Alvord said that they had originally planned to open the yard waste site much later, but knew that there was a great deal of storm damage, so the yard was opened earlier for the residents. Mayor Moccia joined the meeting at 10:06 a.m. Mr. Johnson came forward and gave a brief overview of the upcoming Charrette on connectivity. Norwalk Redevelopment is hosting a Community Workshop regarding the Connectivity initially. This started some time ago when various project like 95/7, Head of the Harbor and the POKO development were being approved. Mary Beth Becker joined the meeting at 10:07 a.m. The Redevelopment Agency reviewed the projects and realized that with all the individual projects, the Agency was basically redeveloping the entire downtown along with the major corridor. The big event will be the Community Workshop in the Community Room next week. Mr. Johnson invited everyone to participate by taking an online survey from home, visit the connectivity website, or attend the charrette itself. He then gave a brief overview of the agenda for the charrette and encouraged everyone to attend to give their input. There will be a walking tour on the 13th leaving from the northbound (New Haven) side of the SONO train station at 11:00 a.m. It will be a walk of about just over three miles, (1.6 each way). Mr. Johnson thanked everyone for their time and said he hoped to see everyone at the charrette, before he left the meeting. The Mayor then indicated that the U.S. Census Bureau had sent t-shirts and encouraged everyone to take one. He encouraged everyone to participate just by answering the number of occupants at their residents on the form. The Mayor said that Mr. Pierce had left copies an article from the Advocate about the dumping of unwanted phone books. He pointed out that the police would be responsible for enforcing the law. However, this may be impractical. Ms. Maitland said that the Health Department encourages people to call the company and tell them they don’t want the extra phone books. City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Regular Meeting April 7, 2010 Page 2 The Mayor then said that the Fodor Farm had proven to be very successful. He said that he had submitted an application for Norwalk’s Fodor Farm and word has been received from the U.S. Conference of Mayors that out of 200 applications, Fodor Farm had made the final 15 cut. The deadline for the Summer Youth Jobs program has passed. The Mayor said that the U.S. Conference of Mayors gave Providence, R.I. the top award, but Norwalk was one of the final contenders. The Mayor spoke briefly about the low interest loans from the State and emphasized that these were not grants, but loans. The Mayor said that there was serious flooding in Rhode Island last week and the area has already been declared a disaster area, but Norwalk is still waiting for a decision on whether or not Norwalk was a disaster area. He commended the police, fire and DPW for all their efforts. CL&P took a hit when they pulled the crews back off the road, but this was done when the winds and the rain picked up. The Mayor also explained that there are OSHA rules regarding how many hours a crew can work. Ms. Names said that she was living in New York on 9/11 and when the cell phones went down, people were out of the loop. She asked how Norwalk would handle that. The Mayor said that he didn’t want to even think of the degree of catastrophe that it would entail and there were no easy answers. Lt. Resnick said that everyone should have an AM radio with fresh batteries available, and pointed out that most of the radio stations and TV stations have back up generators. If that fails, there are loudspeakers on the fire engines and police vehicles. Ms. Blair explained that there are residents who think the City should be coming by to remove their trees, but many of the trees are on private property and it is up to the individual property owner to have the fallen trees removed. Mr. Shockley said that April 24th is the clean up day for Keep Norwalk Beautiful. Posters have been put up for public awareness and asking for volunteers. Norwalk was awarded a cigarette awareness effort and small, portable ashtrays were available. The Mayor said that it is important for the business owners to realize that while they do pay taxes, they also have to help out by keeping their areas clean. Mr. Alvord said that there was a subcommittee focused on this issue. The Mayor said that he is now receiving more complaints about littering than about speeding. Unfortunately, there is no one to blame other than the residents. DPW and Recreations & Parks are both stretched in terms of staff. On April 20th, there will be a proclamation by the Mayor for Earth Week to kick off the Keep Norwalk Beautiful clean up campaign. City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Regular Meeting April 7, 2010 Page 3 Mr. Shockley said that there had been a follow up meeting with Ms. Liljigren from Flax Hill regarding the circumstances around the accident involving Mr. Hanrahan. On April 22nd, the Norwalk Police Activities League will be hosting a wine tasting at the Norwalk Inn. Mr. Iannaccone said he had been working with the developers at Summer Street and had been in to inspect two of the buildings. The developers have been very responsive to the requests by the Fire Marshal. Golden Hill - Ms. Griffing said that the neighborhood looks great with the trees in bloom, as long as you don’t look at the ground. She said that she has repeatedly asked for a trash can at Crystal theater. Mr. Alvord said that the next time the representative comes through Norwalk, they will check the site and hope to put a trash receptacle at the site. She added she had been complaining about the flags at Heritage Wall. Both flags have now been replaced. NASH - Ms. Names asked about the public housing, she said that tried to find out about public housing but couldn’t find information. Mr. Alvord said that she should look at Norwalk Housing Authority website. Harbor Shores - Mr. Draper said that the Harbor Shores group was organizing for the clean up. Mr. Shockley said that he would be in touch to confirm where the bags would be picked up. Mr. Draper asked for a clear definition of Section 8 housing. Mr. Alvord said that he believed the information was on Housing Authority website. A brief discussion about the Section 8 housing rules then followed. Wall Street - Ms. Becker said that the new planters were on Wall Street. The big clean up is scheduled for May 15th. Ms. Becker said that the Golden Hill group ended up with an extra 40 volunteers who were put to work on an embankment by Yankee Gas. She said that Fairfield University had 700 kids sign up in March to do a litter clean up before the vegetation comes up. West Main – Ms. Bryant said that West Main is coming along fine, but there are a number of large potholes. The asphalt plant in Norwalk shut down two years ago and doesn’t plan to reopen. Now the crews have to go to Stamford for a truckload of asphalt, which takes up to half a day. The plant in Stamford can manufacture whatever quality is needed. The City requires a mix called Superpave and lasts longer. Ms. Abraham said that there had been an increase with the Cablevision trucks. City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Regular Meeting April 7, 2010 Page 4 Ms. Abraham also said that was a house that had a volleyball court in the back on Jefferson. People start coming in at 5:30 p.m. and continue past 9:30. There is a problem with parking and the ball going into people’s yard. Lt. Resnick said that he would take a ride by and address the parking issue. Flax Hill. Mr. Rogers said that 13 trees came down and the fences came down. He said that DPW and Recreation have worked hard to bring it around. Mr. Rogers said that there is a section of Scribner and Beauford that has several deep potholes which people are swerving into other the oncoming lane to avoid the potholes. It was commented that there is a website about Fodor Farm <www.thefodorfarmer.org> that is updated frequently. The discussion then moved to the recent meeting with Ms. Liljigren regarding traffic. Mr. Alvord said that there are only a limited number of items that can be done with established roads. He added that there had been a discussion about the placement of crosswalks. One of the issues is changing the behavior of the pedestrians. However, it is critical to have the pedestrians in the crosswalks where they are protected. Mr. Alvord said that one issue was what has happened in terms of truck volume since Rt. 136 has been closed to trucks. One possible thing is to enforce the noise ordinance. Regarding the recent accident involving Mr. Hanrahan being struck by a car in his own driveway, Mr. Alvord pointed out that there is nothing that can done to prevent nuts and drunks from getting behind the wheel. Mr. Alvord said that the skid marks were measured and the driver had to be going about 74 miles an hour and had no intention of stopping at the intersection of Keeler and Flax. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Shockley adjourned the meeting at 11:15 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Regular Meeting April 7, 2010 Page 5